A total of 31 artist-run exhibition venues throughout the country have been nominated for the BKF award Artist-run Exhibition Venues of the Year 2021. See the entire list at the bottom of this page.
The BKF prize consists of 3 awards of NOK 25.000 each, which are awarded to self-organized exhibition platforms that have made a special mark in the past year.
Over the summer, the nominations have flowed in - excited audiences, business partners and colleagues have, among other things, nominated Kunsthal Thy in North Jutland, Operations Office in Viborg, M100 in Odense, LOKALE in Copenhagen and Udstillingsstedet Sol, Nexø on Bornholm.
After this, it is a jury, which this year consists of visual artist Sofie Thorsen, art adviser and curator Mette Woller and BKF's chairman Nis Rømer, who selects 3 winners from all the nominees.
"It's a really difficult task we're on, because the quality level is incredibly high out there," says Nis Rømer.
The jury for the BKF prize Artist-run Exhibition Places of the Year 2021 is: Nis Rømer, Mette Woller, Sofie Thorsen.
"The artists' own exhibition spaces play an important role in the professional development of the entire artistic life, and here in the corona era, the artist-run places have really shown their worth. Many have quickly and elegantly developed new corona-adapted formats for displaying and communicating the latest contemporary art. Everyone has stubbornly held on to the desire and enthusiasm to get the art out to the public, even in a time of crisis, which is financially difficult for many visual artists," he says.
BKF on Juxtapose
This year, the BKF prize will be awarded as part of the opening party at the new, international fair for independent project spaces, Juxtapose Art Fair, at Godsbanen in Aarhus.
bag Juxtapose Art Fair stand visual artist Jacob Juhl and the curators Pamela Grombacher and Sasha Rose Richter. Jacob Juhl talks about the background for the fair:
“There is so much happening in the independent art spaces right now and the scene is really booming! There is a lot of energy and willingness to try new and bold formats that you don't see in museums or established galleries. We feel that the independent platforms deserve a much wider reach and hope that we can contribute to that by presenting some of them in a popular public space like Godsbanen in Aarhus, which is visited by people from all walks of life.”
Come and join
BKF hopes to see a lot of people at the award ceremony and the opening party - and at the fair itself, which focuses on all the exciting things happening on the self-organized art scene right now.
Nominees for the BKF prize Artist-run Exhibition Venues of the Year 2021:
Anne Louise Blicher: The Rotations of the Sky. Entropic Cosmos. Danish Graphic Designers 2021.
Hygum Art Museum / Country Town
KRÆ – the syndicate of Creatures
Oskar Koliander: Margaret's Blanket. Platform BUNKER 2021.
Pernille Pontoppidan Pedersen: FEMALE STUDIES. Operations office 2021.
Background: the BKF prize Artist-run Exhibition Places of the Year
Has been awarded by the Association of Visual Artists (BKF) since 2016. The money for the Artist-run Exhibition Venue of the Year award comes from BKF's share of Copydan's collective funds, which thus benefits the entire stand.
This year's Artist-run Exhibition Venues can be both permanent and temporary, physical and virtual. The criterion is that the place is run by visual artists (possibly in collaboration with other professional groups). Exhibitions by individual artists are not considered. The award is intended for new initiatives and exhibitions in the future.
See more about the BKF award, i.a. previous year's winners, here…